Free Republic

For the past five days, the display of the stupidity in the elected bodies of Congress has been on full display.For the past five days, Americans have had to put up with politically framed speeches and explanations of why this shutdown had to happen and whose fault it truly is.For the past five days the amount of grandstanding “on principle” has made many feel that no one in Washington DC will ever listen to the people ever again.However for the past five days—outside of DC—another story began to be told. For the past five days, more than a quarter of a...

RUSH: Do you remember during the memorial services and the funeral for George H. W. Bush, what stood out? If you think back, if you saw it — and I was there — what stood out? I’ll tell you what stood out. How much he was praised for being a man of Washington, for being bipartisan, for being mature and understanding that the two parties could work together. That George H. W. Bush was a man of decency, a man of understanding — and why was this said about him? Because he broke his tax pledge, ’cause George H. W....

Do politicians oppose term limits on principle?For the answer to be yes, we would first have to explain to them what principles are. Yet, even beyond consideration of such thorny truths, or their visceral flashing-a-cross-to-a-vampire reaction to the two words “term limits,” are politicians — even the most career-obsessed, decades-long incumbents — unalterably opposed to term limits?Not a trick question. Sure, politicians adamantly oppose term limits that cut against their self-interest, i.e. have the audacity to apply to them. But they are often for term limits . . . when the limitation applies to others.Meaning, of course, that our congresspeople are...

Contrary to liberal media reporting, the Oval Office meeting with President Trump, Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was a win for Trump, both in substance and in tone. The meeting gave people an opportunity to see who fears transparency, who's misrepresenting his/her position and who is being the aggressor in the border debate, and it's not Donald Trump. Instead of listening to the media's version, watch the video. President Trump set the tone of the meeting, and it was decidedly cordial, saying it was a great honor to have Pelosi and Schumer there and...

Well, if Democratic bloodsports over the House speakership race was on your Christmas list, cross it off. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) now has a lock on it, with a deal struck with the anti-Pelosi wing on the Democratic Party, who vowed to oppose her bid. Some 16 House Democratsdeclared their opposition to her candidacy. Yet, their potential candidate to oppose Pelosi, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), decided to bow out. Some other anti-Pelosi Democrats jumped ship as well. Still, there was a chance that this small band of rebels could cause Pelosi heartburn on the House floor. Now, such fears can...

For the first time since the 2018-midterm elections, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with President Trump at the White House Tuesday. Their meeting was originally supposed to be closed press, but that all changed when the White House press pool was invited into the Oval Office to broadcast their remarks. President Trump started the meeting by thanking Pelosi and Schumer for showing up and made his case for additional border security. "I am proud to shut down the government over border security," Trump said. "I will take the mantle." "They're pouring into our...

It's no secret that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) is facing a challenging bid for her former post as Speak of the House. The icing on the cake though? She thinks that it's time for her Democratic colleagues to come together and unite over her potential speakership.On Friday, Pelosi sent a letter to her Democratic colleagues, urging them to "support the nominee of our Caucus for Speaker on the Floor of the House." The Democratic Party's rules require members to vote for whoever the nominee is.Here's a copy of the letter (emphasis mine): November 23, 2018Dear Democratic Colleague and...

This flirtation with the idea of a Democratic bloodbath over the House speakership was fun. I admit; a little part of me was hoping for a slog. It would’ve been a moment of shattered unity for the new Democratic House before the new sessions officially began. And I would have loved to see what Donald Trump would’ve have said, or done, to get Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) the votes she would have needed if she fell short. Right now, some 16 or so House Democrats have formed a Never Nancy wing, adamant that they will not support her speakership bid....

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is confident that she will be the next Speaker of the House for the next Congress.  The Democratic caucus votes at the end of the month, and there’s a growing wing of Never Nancy Democrats who are committed to opposing her bid to reclaim the gavel. They’re not buckling. So far, 17 Democrats have vowed to not back the California liberal’s bid—and some are doing this knowing full well that retribution from the party elders could be swift and exacting (via Washington Examiner): Seventeen Democrats will formally promise on Monday to vote against Nancy Pelosi's bid...

If Democrats are trying to reassure anyone that they won't impeach President Trump, they're aren't doing a very good job of it. Just days after her party won control of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi made clear that Democrats might impeach the president even if Trump-Russia special counsel Robert Mueller does not find evidence to warrant charges against him. "Recognize one point," Pelosi told the Atlantic. "What (Trump-Russia special counsel Robert) Mueller might not think is indictable could be impeachable." "We're waiting to see what the special counsel finds," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who will run the House Judiciary Committee, told...

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has done what we all knew she was going to do if the Democrats retook the House: mount a bid for speaker (again). It’s a slam-dunk, right? Well, she isn’t exactly the real face of the party. Moreover, she’s incredibly unpopular, a figure that jacks up the GOP base (and fills its campaign coffers), and a whole host of new Democrats don’t support her bid in the leadership. The question is whether the new class sticks to their word. Pelosi did raise money for them, despite their explicit opposition to her reassuming the House speakership. In all...

The Republican National Committee is having some fun today with Nancy Pelosi. The California Democrat is confident that Democrats will retake the House, and is looking to reoccupying the speaker’s office. Yet, before she can redecorate the office and dream about wielding the gavel again, she still has other obligations, like the opening of a new affordable housing complex. In the video, Pelosi is unable to cut the red tape. As the RNC noted, it’s life imitating art (via Washington Examiner): Back home in the San Francisco Bay area after doing some fundraising Thursday in Arizona for fellow Democrats, Pelosi...

You may have heard that we are having an election on November 6th (known as our midterms). Everything seems to revolve around the presidency these days, and that office is only halfway through its term.  The MSM is all aflutter about their allies, the Democrats and Leftists, ringing up losses they declare as moral victories. But, they are “close” losses.  Occasionally a Dem wins, validating his or her cause.  Now their party is pushing a crop of candidates who say if they get to Congress they will not vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House.  That is bullpucky.The...

Voters in Ohio's 12th Congressional District appear to have narrowly elected Republican Troy Balderson in yesterday's special election, thwarting Democrats' hopes to flip another GOP-held seat ahead of the midterm elections.  The race came down to the wire, but the incumbent party ultimately prevailed.  There's a small chance that provisional ballots could trigger a recount, and that absentee ballots could shift votes, but left-leaning elections guru Dave Wasserman looks at the math and effectively calls the contest over, discerning that defeated Democrat Danny O'Connor would "need a miracle" to reverse the outcome.  For all intents and purposes, and barring major...

Sure, she’s always been a little nutty, but over the years House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has gradually shifted from liberal feminist icon to everyone’s batty “a little bit out of it” aunt who knows just enough words-about-political-stuff to be dangerous.So in the spirit of hoping Pelosi is still up for fighting for her old speaker’s gavel come November, here are the five craziest things Nutty Nancy has said in 2018 alone. (Why just this year, you ask? Because I only have one column, not a book!)“A nuclear bomb in your pocket.”Pelosi told reporters on Wednesday that it “pays to have a...

A number of months ago, when Republicans' collective 2018 fate was looking fairly bleak, I attended an off-the-record briefing that reviewed internal party polling, highlighting the party's strengths and weaknesses heading into a challenging midterms.  The political headwinds, as they're often referred to, were blowing against Team Red -- based both on historical precedent and measurable electoral outcomes.  Many of those same obstacles remain firmly in place today.  But two of the bright spots that the assembled GOP gurus underscored were (a) the growing strength of the US economy, thanks to tax reform and other policies, and (b) the polarizing unpopularity of...

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) could be talking the way out of a 2018 midterm win. It’s still possible, however.  A lot of indicators have shifted away from the Democrats in that endeavor. The generic ballot advantage Democrats enjoyed has been chipped away. The messaging is off. They’re now fighting the same losing battles with Trump, like defending trashing the American flag and the national anthem, with the most recent giving cover to MS-13 gang members as folks…who aren’t so bad. Sorry, no—they’re garbage human beings who are thugs, rapists, and murderers, devoid of any humanity. They deserve to be treated...

Democrats stand to make gains in the upcoming midterm elections -- but their cockiness about winning sweeping victories has reportedly become more restrained in recent days, thanks to tightening generic ballot polling and improved presidential approval numbers.  CNN's newest national survey shows most Americans are pleased with the general state of the country, with Democrats' 2018 advantage down to just three points (as opposed to 16 points in the same series several months ago).  Reuters' national data shows Democrats' lead whittled down to one measly point, well within the margin of error.  At the beginning of the year, 'Chuck and...

The Boston Globe's report that former Secretary of State John Kerry met with foreign officials to discuss saving the Iran nuclear deal is the latest reminder that Democrats consistently seek to appease America's enemies while spitting in the eye of our commander-in-chief. More than a decade ago, then Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi and a gang of other Democratic leaders defied American foreign policy and met with the ruthless and brutal Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Pelosi extended an open-hand to an isolated country that had a penchant for violating the rights of its civilians, sponsoring terrorism, and threatening war...

Step one: Scream that the GOP tax reform bill would be a "massive attack" on the middle class.  Step two: Concede that actually yes, nearly all middle income earners would get a tax break under the bill.  Step three: Call for its repeal anyway, effectively demanding a tax increase -- a "massive attack," one might even say -- on middle class Americans and US businesses.  It sounds like Bernie Sanders has picked up the same tax hike hymnal from which Nancy Pelosi was singing last week: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called Monday for the Republican tax law to be repealed...